You know what keeps me up at night? Worrying about blog posts.
Yes, it’s silly to lose sleep over work, but when part of your job is producing several blog posts a month for different outlets, it can be hard to turn off the part of your brain that wonders, “What’s next? What’s next? What’s next?” This can turn into a fairly specific form of writer’s panic that no amount of chamomile tea can cure.
A blog can act as a primed pump to attract new visitors to your website and impress them with your level of expertise about your field. The more you blog, the more opportunity you have to turn visitors into leads and, eventually, customers. So it’s important to write regularly and keep your website content fresh. Piece of cake, right? Except, writing is tough, and it’s even harder to come up with ideas for new content week after week after week.
So, how do I alleviate my worries and get a full night’s sleep? Here are five go-to blog idea generators I fall back on.
What are you reading/watching/listening to these days? There’s lots of inspiration to be found on your screen and in your podcast list, and blog posts that mention current hits are more likely to be found via keyword searches. We all write better when we’re writing about something we feel passionate about, whether that’s Game of Thrones or Stephen Colbert. How did the latest American Life podcast relate to your company? Write about it. Someone will probably relate.
Are your kids being cute? Your family and friends are great sources of comedy and wisdom and your readers will appreciate personal tidbits that allow for an authentic connection. Don’t overdue the cute stories and always connect them solid, actionable advice, but do keep these in your back pocket to pull out at opportune moments.
Be a curator. What are your top 10 favorite blog posts? What are the top five most useful YouTube channels? What are the best podcasts for middle schoolers? By creating a list of sites that you return to over and over, you provide readers with a plethora of great content and promote a reciprocal linking experience that will generate more traffic.
Write about failure. Sure, these are the moments we all hate to revisit, never mind publicize in a blog post, but analyzing a time when things did not go as you planned can be beneficial not only to your readers but to you. Plus, it reveals you as a person of integrity who is always striving to grow and improve.
Check out Google Trends to see what people are reading about. You might also get ideas from your social media platforms. What stories are people sharing? What stories are people reacting to? What stories do you know something about, have an opinion on, or can connect to your product or service? Again, this is a great opportunity to use popular keywords.